The Home Inspection business is indeed considered an excellent profession. There are always properties selling, being re-financed, and even auctioned by the bank – and with all this turn over, well, there seems to be plenty of business out there. That is if you know what you are doing and are able to develop a reputation for doing it right. But what does doing it right really mean?
Well, it means not being condescending to clientele, it means showing up on time, remaining ethical, and also offering suggestions to the home owner of inexpensive ways for them to come into compliance when and if they ask. A fair assessment is paramount, and overboard uplifting of actual conditions is wrong. If a slab has damage, even if it is not readily visible, it is damaged nevertheless and must be accounted for, same goes for roofing, mold, and the problematic conditions of plumbing, electrical, and gas outlets and piping. But there is another aspect of doing it right and I’d like to explain.
Doing it right also includes having the right tools and being able to go where no man has gone before – under the house with the bugs and spiders, and less than fun smells. It also means getting up on a ladder and taking a close look at the roof, rain gutters, and structure. And in the process of doing it right you must consider safety, you need the right ladder for the right job, and yes people are watching. It’s obvious when an home inspector does not have the right equipment to have a look see, or is pushing the envelope at the top of the ladder, it’s something that home owners fear, a slip or a fall, broken bones on their property.
Even if you are an expert mountain climber, which you are not, you should not be taking excessive risks on ladders or equipment, because if you do that you are NOT doing it right. Did you know that worker’s compensation claims have drastically increased over the years for home inspector employees? Why do you think that is?
It’s because they often take risks with hazards that could well have been avoided, after a while the odds catch up with those bold employees and they have a fall. It’s usually not pretty. It happens, and this is why home inspectors and their employees need to do it right, and why those who hire out such services need to hire the right team to do the job. Please consider all this.